The Life of Lily and James
by ashton250
Summary: Before the amazing tales of Harry Potter there were those of Lily and James. Discover the untold chapters of the life at Hogwarts in ‘The Life of Lily and James’
1. Chapter 1

Lily Evans sat silently in her cozey little bedroom staring absent mindedly out the window. She twisted a lock of red hair around her finger as she searched her mind for a characteristic that made her unique. She glanced at the sheet of paper resting in her lap. It was an application for a club she wanted to join at her new school. It was now June, and her family had moved just two weeks before, which meant only one thing- she would be going to a new school full of people she didn't know. Lily had made up her mind to join as many clubs as she could, so that she would be able to make new friends. Unfortunately it meant filling out applications, lots of applications.   
  
The current question she was struggling with was what makes you special? Lily had no idea. Sure, she was good at a lot of things; she was a great actress, and she had a good voice. She did wonderfully in school, and could play the clarinet. She had every intention of joining the school debate team and she did well in sports too. The only problem was that no matter how good she was at something, someone else was always better. Disappointed and frustrated, Lily deposited her application on her desk top before climbing in to bed to go to sleep.  
Lily awoke with a start the next morning and fell out of bed when she saw what had caused her to wake so suddenly. There was an enormous owl pecking at her bedroom window. She quickly realized that the owl had something tied to it's leg, and with mounting curiosity, she decided to open the window just enough to retrieve what appeared to be a letter. She crept cautiously to the window and cracked it just a bit. As she did, the owl stuck his leg in the window and she hastily untied the paper. Immediately, the owl toke off. Lily had been right, it was a letter and on the front it said   
  
Miss L. Evans   
7 Pinebrook Lane   
Little Whinging   
Surrey  
The envelope was very large, and made of yellowish parchment, with the words written in scarlet ink. Slowly, Lily opened the envelope and removed the letter.   
  
HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY   
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore   
(Order Of Merlin, First Class, Grand Scor., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)   
  
Dear Miss Evans,   
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Enclosed is a list of supplies. Term began September 1st.   
  
Yours Sincerely,   
Frederick Rector   
Deputy Headmaster   
  
Lily glanced at the second sheet of paper- it was a list full of all sorts of strange things; cauldrons, robes, and even a wand! She stared at the letter as realization began to dawn on her. Of course, it was so obvious- this was another one of Petunia's absurd pranks! Lily doubled over with laughter. Petunia ( her older sister)had pulled some silly pranks, but this was by far the most ridiculous. how stupid does she think I am, Lily thought to herself before bursting into another fit of giggles. Lily managed to compose herself long enough to go down stairs and find Petunia.  
She found her in the kitchen eating breakfast.   
"This has to be the stupidest prank you have ever come up with" Lily said as she threw the letter on the table for Petunia to view. Her sister snatch the letter and read it hurriedly before thrusting back in lily's general direction.   
"I didn't write that" Petunia mumbled , her mouth full of cereal.   
"Do me a favor, swallow your food before you speak" Lily said with disgust   
"And if you didn't write this letter, who did?"   
"I don't know, now stop pestering me. My new friends are coming over, and I don't want you to scare them off"Petunia replied nastily   
"What brain dead lunatic would want to be your friend?" Lily questioned   
"Oh, shut up" her sister said   
"That's a great come back" Lily retorted as she got up to leave. She didn't feel like trading insults with her sister this early in the morning.  
Lily decided to go for a walk and study the letter. As she continued down the sidewalk, she ran into someone and was knocked to the ground.   
"oh, I'm sorry. Let me help you up"   
Lily looked up to see a very cute boy with jet black hair, and sapphire eyes, extending his hand to help her up.   
"th-thank you" lily stammered as the boy pulled her gently from the ground.  
"I really am sorry, I wasn't paying attention to were I was going. By the way, I'm James, and these are my friends Sirius and Remus" at this James pointed to the two boys standing next to him.   
"My name is Lily. It's nice to meet you." Lily said as she retrieved the letter from the ground. James eyes fell on the letter, and he stood there starring at it for a moment. 


	2. Chapter 2

The three boys and Lily went into Remus' house and walked to the living room.   
"Um, why are we here, and why are you starting a fire?" Lily asked as Remus bent over and threw a match in the fire place.   
"We're traveling to Diagon Ally by floo powder" Sirius said.   
"by what?"   
"Okay, all you have to do is take some of this powder, throw it into the fire, and say 'Diagon Ally'" Remus explained   
"There is no way I'm going first!" Lily protested   
"Fine I'll go" Sirius said.   
As he threw the powder in the fire, green flames shot up.   
"Diagon Ally" Sirius said and then vanished as he stepped into the fire.  
Lily went next. As she was whirled into the into the fire place, she saw all sorts of strange rooms flash before her eyes. Then suddenly she fell onto the hard floor of a strange looking book shop. Remus helped her up as James and Sirius appeared behind her. They exited the shop, and walked down the cobblestone streets as James began to explain everything about the magical world to Lily.  
There was so much to learn. Lily couldn't believe everything she was hearing. They were currently sitting outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, each of them with a large chocolate ice cream cone. "Oh! I almost forgot to tell you about quidditch!" James said excitedly   
"You? Forget about quidditch? Ha!" Sirius said as he rolled his eyes.   
"What's quidditch?" Lily questioned   
"Only the best game in the entire world!" James said rather loudly.   
"What you do is......"   
"Oh, Jaaaaaaaaaames!"   
James was interrupted by a snotty looking girl with long brown hair.   
"Um, hi Valerie" James said unenthusiastically   
"James, were on earth have you been? It's 11:30 and you promised to have lunch with daddy and me" Valerie cooed   
"I'd almost forgotten. Well, I guess we better go guys. Bye Lily" James said.   
Valerie shot Lily a nasty look before dragging James away.   
"We better go Remus. This is going to be a long day" Sirius sighed   
"wh-who was that girl?" Lily asked Remus   
"That would be Valerie Vanderbuilt, James' girlfriend" Remus replied   
"James has a girlfriend?" Lily gulped   
"Yep. Listen, I'm really sorry about this, but you'll be fine if you stay on Diagon Ally. We'll meet you back in front of the fire place in Flourish and Blotts at 4:00, okay?" Remus said   
"Yeah, sure" replied Lily as Remus turned to catch up with Sirius and James.   
Lily was really starting to like James, and she was quite upset that he had a girlfriend. Pushing these thoughts aside she got up and consulted her list of supplies. She had already gone to Gringotts, and purchased everything but her wand and her robes. Picking up her packages she headed down the road to Madame Malkin's shop. Madame Malkin took her to a back room, stood her and a stool, and put robes on her. She had to leave for a moment to help another costumer, and she left Lily standing on her stool next to a girl with short blonde hair.   
"Hi, I'm Lily Evans" Lily said as she shifted slightly to face the girl.   
"Hello! I'm Jodie Blankenship."   
As their conversation proceeded, Lily and Jodie quickly became friends.   
They went to get their wands and then found a bench to sit on while they continued their talk.   
"So, um, do you know anything about James Potter?" Lily blurted a little more suddenly than she meant to.   
"Well..uh..yeah..um...I-I guess I've heard of him before." Jodie said, not quite meeting Lily's eyes.   
"what aren't you telling me?" Lily asked, looking critically at Jodie.   
"Lily, look, maybe some day I'll tell you, but now is not the right time. Just promise me one thing.."   
"what?"   
"Promise me that you won't get involved with James, okay. I- I just don't want you to get hurt" Jodie finished hurriedly.   
"Well, okay" Lily said crossing her fingers behind her back.  
That night Lily laid in bed, recalling her conversation with Jodie.   
  
Why wouldn't Jodie tell me what was wrong? What could have happened to her to make her think James was dangerous?   
After tossing and turning for about an hour, Lily finally fell into an uneasy sleep.   
  
The weeks seemed to fly by. Lily celebrated her eleventh birthday, and before long it was September 1st 


	3. Chapter 3

"I don't know Mother, it looks pretty solid" Lily commented, as she looked at the wall separating platforms nine and ten at the train station.   
"Do you think James was joking when he told me to run through that wall?" Lily asked.   
"Well, do have a better idea?" her father asked.   
"I suppose this is where I tell you goodbye" Lily said.   
"bye sweetheart" her mother said.   
"Bye mother, bye Daddy. I love you! Oh, uh, see you later Petunia" and with that Lily turned and pushed her cart toward the wall.   
  
Much to her surprise, she went right through it, then went in search of Jodie. Lily didn't see her anywhere on the platform, so she decided to put her things on the train then look for her in one of the compartments.  
Lily was starting to panic. She couldn't find her friend anywhere, and she had only one compartment left to look in. Unfortunately, the only people in the last compartment were James, Sirius, and Remus.   
"Have any of you seen Jodie Blankenship?" Lily asked.   
All three boys looked extremely uncomfortable and James said "Um, uh, no not recently"   
"what's that supposed to mean, and why does everyone start acting so strange at the mention of Jodie and James?"   
"just...Never mind. No I have not seen Jodie and how do you know her anyway?" James asked   
"I meet her when we went to Diagon Ally, and you three ditched me" Lily said forcefully.   
"We told you we were sorry!" James exclaimed.   
Lily rolled her eyes and left to double check the compartments, and see if she had some how over looked Jodie.   
"Jodie!" Lily exclaimed as she finally spotted her friend in one of the compartments on the train.   
"Where were you? I was starting to get worried." Lily said, running up to her friend.   
"I, um, I was running late and I almost missed the train." Jodie said.   
"What happened to your face?" Lily asked spotting a newly formed bruise on Jodie's left cheek.   
"Oh. That. I was outside next to my trunk, and I tripped and fell, and hit my cheek against the corner of the trunk" Jodie explained.  
Lily was absolutely sure Jodie was lying, but she did not have time to dwell on that fact because the driver had just announced that the train would be arriving at Hogwarts in five minutes.   
The two girls changed into their robes, and exited the train as it came to a stop.  
As she stepped off the train, Lily spotted a man that was twice as tall as a regular man. He was calling to the first year students, asking them to come over by him. Lily made her way over to the giant man, felling so nervous that she could hardly breath.   
"Jodie, do you know how they are going to separate us into houses?" Lily whispered as she turned to her friend. She noticed that Jodie was very pale, and looked unbelievably nervous too.   
"No, it's a very well guarded secret, but I heard rumors that we might have to do magic." Jodie said   
Lily's heart sank. She had read all her books, but she hadn't tried to do any spells yet. What happens if we can't do any spells? They might us go home! I don't want to go home!   
"Jodie! Y-you don't suppose we would have to take him on?" Lily asked, gesturing to the enormous man leading them toward a lake.   
Jody face went from white to green. She looked like she was going to be sick.   
"Are you okay Jodie?"   
Jody shook her head slowly "Yes" She said in a very small voice.   
They reached the lake and separated into groups of four to journey across the lake in small boats.   
The boats continued, and then the giant said   
"Kids, if yeh look up now yeh'll get yer first look o' Hogwarts"  
It was so beautiful it almost made Lily forget about her nervousness. It was an elegant castle with many towers.   
  
The boats bumped gently against the shore and all the first year walked through a large door. They were then guided through a magnificent entrance hall by Professor Rector, a tall wizard with frizzy grey hair and many wrinkles. He then lead them into a small room, where he instructed them to wait until it was time for them to be sorted  
It seemed like forever before Professor Rector came back. Tring to keep her mind off what was coming next, Lily studied the faces of her classmates as they filed into the Great Hall. All of them looked incredibly pale, including the self-assured Valerie.   
Lily gasped as she came into the great hall. It was remarkable. Her favorite part was the ceiling. It looked as if there was nothing there at all. You could see all the stars in the heavens. It was absolutely amazing.   
Lily's attention was drawn away from the ceiling and on to Professor Rector as he brought in a stool with three legs, and placed a hat on it. It was a very old, very ugly wizard's hat. Lily looked at it curiously, wondering what in the world they would have to do with that hat.  
Quite suddenly, the brim of the hat opened up, and then it began to sing-   
  
I am the Hogwarts sorting hat that long ago was made   
To sort the students when the founders memories did fade   
Good Gryffindor did fill me with a knowledge that was great   
To see the minds of wizards, and to then decide their fate   
Each founder picked their students with such different qualities   
They told me what to look for, and to sift them out you see   
Gryffindor sought out the brave, they were his favorite kind   
The strong and daring, I am sure, you will always find   
Hufflepuffs are famous for their patients and their truth   
Maybe Hufflepuff is where, you will spend your youth   
However, there is Ravenclaw if you are very bright If you're witty, and you keep your studies in your sight   
You might belong in Slytherin if you are very keen   
They are the most determined ones that I have ever seen   
So let me look into your mind, and see where you should be   
I promise I will tell the truth, now leave it up to me!  
"Please step forward as I call your name, sit on the stool, and place the hat on your head" Professor Rector said as unrolled a long piece of parchment.   
"Achenbach, John"   
A tall boy with curly blonde hair stumbled forward, the hat slipping over his eyes as he placed it on his head.   
For a moment the whole room was silent, and then......   
"RAVENCLAW" the hat yelled, scaring Lily half to death.   
And so the list went on, until...   
"Blankenship, Jodie"   
The hat had barely touch her head before shouting "GRYFFINDOR!"   
The line seemed to be moving so slowly.   
It seemed like forever before Rector got to Lily's name.   
"Evans, Lily"   
Lily walked slowly forward, sat on the stool, and allowed the hat to fall over her eyes. Then came a small voice inside her head-   
  
  
Hmm, let's see. Oh, I see a lot of intelligence, yes a lot indeed. Perhaps Ravenclaw? However you are rather determined, so maybe slytherin? But, I see you are a good friend, and you will have many good friends in the future- that would suggest Hufflepuff. No! Now I see it so clearly. I know just where you belong!   
  
"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat bellowed.   
Lily ran over to the Gryffindor table and plopped down next to Jodie, feeling quite relieved, and immensely excited. She would get to stay with Jodie, and she was very thankful for that.   
  
The hat went on, putting James, Remus, and Sirius in Gryffindor as well. Finally the sorting ended with "Zielinski, Terrence- Hufflepuff", and Lily turned her thoughts to food for the first time since arriving at Hogwarts. She was famished.  
"Hello students!" said a man with a long silver beard and long flowing hair.   
"I am Professor Dumbledore" the man said   
ahh, so that's Professor Dumbledore Lily thought to herself.   
  
Dumbledore smiled cheerily at the students as he told them about a few rules that were very important to follow at Hogwarts.   
  
The plates were then magically filled with the most delicious looking feast Lily had ever seen.  
After the feast, the Gryffindor prefects lead the new Gyffindors up to the tower. It was located behind a picture of a fat lady in a pink silk dress and the password was 'dill pickle'.   
  
As Lily laid in bed that night she thought about James and Jodie-   
  
There is something going on here that everyone knows about, but me. there is something hanging over their past that they don't want me to know about! But I will find out! 


	4. Chapter 4

Lily loved Hogwarts. The castle was so beautiful, but it was incredibly big, and Lily got lost very easily.   
  
Her classes were great, and magic seemed to come naturally to her. Lily's favorite class was divination. Professor Parris was great. She was really nice, and she had the amazing ability to see into the future. Lily had read enough books to know that those who could actually see the future were very rare.   
  
One day, after class, Professor Parris asked Lily to stay so she could have a talk with her.   
"Lily, I sense a rare ability in you." Parris said as she sat down across from Lily.   
"Really"   
"Yes. I believe that you have the ability to see the future." said Parris very seriously.   
Lily couldn't believe what she was hearing.   
"But, I've never been able to see the future before." Lily said, startled at what Professor Parris was saying.   
"That's because you must be trained. There are certain signs that let me know that you are one who can see the future, and if Professor Dumbledore will allow me, I'd like to train you myself." Parris said   
"O-Okay" Lily replied a little uncertainly.   
"Well, in that case I'll talk to him, and let you know what he says." Parris said with a smile.  
Lily went down to lunch and sat thoughtfully as she ate her meal.   
"what's wrong" Jodie asked noticing how quiet her friend was being.   
  
Lily told Jodie about what Professor parris had said 'Oh wow! That's great' Jodie had said, but Lily wasn't so sure.   
  
Sometimes it's best not to know what is going to happen in the future Lily thought.   
  
Later that week, Professor Parris got back to Lily.   
"Lily, Professor Dumbledore gave me this to give to you."   
It was a letter.   
  
Lily thanked Professor Parris then went to her dormitory to read the letter in private.   
  
Dear miss Evans,   
I agree with Professor Parris in saying that you do indeed show the signs of one   
who can see the future. I have told Professor   
Parris that she will be aloud to train   
you in your third year. Until that time   
I would like you to think about this.   
It is a great responsibility, and I want   
you to make sure that you really want   
to do this. Good luck Lily.   
Professor Dumbledore  
Lily had also not forgotten about her search to find out about Jodie's past. So far all she had been able to find out was that the Blankenship family, the Potter family, and the Vanderbuilt family were three of the oldest wizarding families, having been around for many centuries. Although Lily didn't see any reason for Jodie to hide this fact.   
  
It was now late September and Lily had only one option left- look through Jodie's things.   
Lily hurried up the stairs to her dormitory, and looked around to make sure it was void of any occupants. Confirming that it was, Lily slowly opened the lid to Jodie's trunk. She sifted through the items inside, looking for anything that might give her a hint about Jodie's past. After looking at half the contents of the trunk, Lily stopped, realizing what a terrible thing she was doing.   
  
I would be upset if someone was looking through my things.....That's it,   
I've had enough of this! I'm going to find out what's going on, once and for all!   
  
Lily ran down the stairs to find Jodie. She was sitting in a chair by the fire, doing her homework.   
"Jodie, I need to talk to you now!" Lily said forcefully, pulling Jodie up the stairs behind her.  
"Lily what's wrong?" Jodie asked looking very confused.   
  
"Jodie, were best friends, right?"   
"right" said Jodie slowly as she watched Lily pace back and forth across the dormitory floor.   
  
"Then why won't you tell me anything?" Lily asked as she stopped pacing to sit down next to her friend   
  
"What do you mean?" Jodie asked.   
  
"I mean that- you know everything about me, but the only things I know about you, are the things that have happened since you came to Hogwarts" Lily said gently as her friend stood up and pulled a large book out of the bottom of her trunk.   
  
  
The book was forest green, and on the front 'JODIE ' was written in gold lettering.   
"Jodie, what's this?" Lily asked.   
  
"It's a magical picture book, and it shows important things that have happened in my life." Jodie said, opening the book.   
  
On the first page, there was a picture of a man and a women holding a baby, who was wrapped tightly in a pink blanket-   
  
'Isn't Jodie beautiful, John?'   
'She sure is Michelle!'   
  
The man and women said as they smiled down at their baby.  
Jodie took a deep breath as she plunged into her story   
  
"The first thing you should know is that I was born into one of the oldest, and most powerful wizarding families in the world."   
  
Lily nodded her head in understandment as Jodie continued on.   
  
"The next thing you should know is that there is a community in London, called Brookside Valley, were the most powerful wizarding families in all of England live. From the time I was born, I lived in Brookside Valley, next door to James Potter, and Valerie Vanderbuilt"   
  
"But, I don't understand..."   
  
"Just let me tell my story and I promise you will" Jodie said with a pleading look in her eyes.   
  
"Okay" Lily replied feeling deeply sorry for her friend.   
Jodie then turned the page. this one had three little children on it. they were holding hands and dancing around in a circle singing ring around the rosie. Lily recognized the children as James, Jodie, and Valerie.   
  
"When we were young, we were best friends. Valerie was even sweet back then. Then something happened that changed all that." Jodie broke down into tears. She let out a small sob and buried her face in her hand, as the tears streamed down her face.   
  
"Please, go on Jodie. I want to understand" Lily said, placing her hand gently on her friend's arm.   
Jodie raised her head, wiped away her tears, and lifted a shaky hand to turn the page in her book.   
  
A man who had messy black hair like James, walked to the three children who were now older and were playing in the back yard of a beautiful mansion.   
  
"What's he doing here, Mr.Potter?" The young Jodie asked pointing to another man who was standing behind Mr.Potter, and who looked very mean. she did not seem happy to see the man at all.   
  
He is your cousin and your only other relative   
Mr.Potter said.   
  
Yes, I know Mr.Potter   
  
Jodie, y-your parents are, your parents are dead.   
Mr.Potter said to Jodie gently.   
  
No! I want my mummy and daddy! Mummy, daddy, were are you?   
The little girl wailed as she collapsed in Mr. Potter's arms.   
  
Jodie, since Mr. Baker is your only living relative you have to go live with him   
Mr.Potter said with piety in his eyes.   
  
NO!   
little Jodie said as she ran over to James, and Valerie, and threw her arms around them.   
  
NO! I WON'T LEAVE JAMES AND VALERIE!   
The little girl screamed ,tears streaming down her face, as she held tightly to her friends.   
  
Jodie's cousin came over and ripped Jodie away from them. Come On!   
The man barked as he carried Jodie away, kicking and screaming, and threw her in the car.   
  
NO! JAMES, VALERIE! HELP ME! PLEASE HELP ME!   
the little girl wailed helplessly as she struggled to get out of the car.   
  
JODIE!   
the other two kids yelled at the same time as they ran after the car, tears in their eyes as well. They chased the car down the street, watching Jodie with her nose pressed to the window, still yelling 'HELP ME!'The car turned the corner and the kids stopped running as they realized it was hopeless.   
  
"Oh, Jodie!" Lily looked up at her friend as the page went blank, she too had tears trickling down her face.  
for a few minutes neither one of them talked. Then finally Jodie spoke in small shaky voice   
"That's not the end of the story."   
  
"I-It's not?" Lily asked, afraid of what she was going to hear next.   
  
"Ever since I went to live with my uncle four years ago, he has been terrible to me. he never lets me go anywhere with my friends, he was always yelling at me, and sometimes he- he even abused me." Jodie said, barley above a whisper.   
  
Lily, remember the bruise on Jodie's cheek at the beginning of the year.   
"Jodie, you can't go back and live with him. What if he gives you more than a bruise next time?"   
  
"I'm not going to live with him anymore. Right before I left for Hogwarts, we had a fight. He refused to let me go, because he hates magic. that's when he hit me. At the same moment, Professor Dumbledore showed up in my living room. My cousin tried to attack him, but he used some kind of magic that stopped him. Then he took me and my belongings, and the next thing I knew I was standing at the train station, right before it left. before I got on the train Dumbledore gave me this." At that point Jodie pulled a letter out of her trunk, and handed it to Lily.   
Dear miss Blankenship,   
Because of the situation with your cousin,   
you will now be living in a muggle orphanage,   
to prevent further abuse. I am sure you will   
find it quite lovely, and you will be safe   
from Mr.Baker.   
Professor Dumbledore  
Lily looked at Jodie   
"Jodie, I'm so sorry"   
  
"That's okay. Anything is better than cousin Tommy." Jodie said with a small smile.   
  
"Can I ask you a question?" Lily asked Jodie.   
  
"Sure" Jodie responded   
  
"Why aren't you and James and Valerie friends anymore? I mean, I know you were taken away from them, but couldn't they have written you or something?" Lily asked.   
  
"Yes, but other things happened....." Jodie trailed off.   
  
"What things" Lily asked curiously.  
"Well, things happened with Valerie and James, that kind of broke our friendship apart for good" Jodie said slowly.   
  
"What were they?" Lily asked trying not to sound too pushy. The truth was that she was dying to know what they were.   
  
What kind of things could have happened to make everybody act so strange? Lily thought to herself.  
"Well, the first thing that happened was to Valerie. About a month after I left Valerie's mother died. It was terrible. Valerie didn't speak to anybody for months, and when she finally snapped out of it, she was no longer the sweet Valerie that used to be my best friend. She was cruel and cold hearted and stuck up. Now there are only two people in this world that she is ever nice to, James and her father." Jodie said sadly   
  
"oh" Lily said as things finally started to make sense.   
  
"The other thing is about James, and well, it's kind of strange" Jodie replied.  
"Um, okay" Lily said.   
  
"you see, a centuries ago, in the Potter family, the parents selected a husband or wife for their child. It was always someone from another wizarding family who was also rich and famous." Jodie said.   
  
"But what does that have to do with James?" Lily questioned.   
  
"well, in the past few decades, arranged marriages have stopped, so the Potter's evolved there way of doing things. now, they select a person, and make sure that the children spend a lot of time together. then hopefully, the two will fall in love and get married. So far, it has worked well. Even James' mother and father got married that way. And the person that has been selected for James, is Valerie." Jodie said quietly.   
  
Lily turned very pale. Her chance of being with the boy she liked where very slim. "But, he doesn't have to marry her, does he?" Lily asked seeing a small light at the end of her tunnel.   
  
"No, but the one thing I learned about James when we were friends, is that he will do anything to make his father proud. And I would bet you anything that James will marry Valerie if it would make his father proud" Jodie said   
  
"The fact that he wants to make his father proud, is also the reason he stopped talking to me, when his father said-   
Son, I think it would be best if you didn't speak to Jodie anymore. 


	5. Chapter 5

That night, Lily laid in her bed, thinking about everything Jodie had told her.   
  
At 1:00 am, she finally realized that she would never get to sleep, so she grabbed her copy of Hogwarts, A History and went down stairs to read by the fire.   
  
When she reached the common room, she found that her seat by the fire was already filled, by none other than James Potter.   
  
James looked up at her as she entered the room.   
"You couldn't sleep either?" James ask as he closed the book on quidditch he was reading.   
"No, I was sleeping great. I just wanted to come down here and show off my pajamas." Lily said sarcastically.   
  
"So, how do you like Hogwarts so far?"   
James asked.   
  
"Oh, I love it!" Lily said enthusiastically.   
  
They talked for a while about Hogwarts, but after running out of things to say, they sat in silence for awhile.   
  
"I'm really hungry." Lily finally said as her stomach growled.   
  
"In that case come with me." James said with an evil grin as he pulled Lily out the portrait hole.   
  
"James! You know we're not supposed to be out of the common room at night." Lily whispered as she stopped in the middle of the hall.   
  
"Oh, come on Lily." James said with a smile.   
  
"Okay" Lily replied giving in, and following James down the hall.  
James led Lily down several corridors, until they came to a stop in front of a picture of a giant bowl of fruit.   
  
James tickled a green pear, and the picture swung forward to reveal a gigantic kitchen.   
"How in the world did you find this?" Lily asked.   
  
"I can barely get to the charms classroom without getting lost." Lily commented as she looked around the kitchen.   
  
"Oh, I it was an accident. A very lucky accident, seeing as how these little guys will give you anything you want." James remarked as he pointed behind Lily.   
  
Lily turned around, and let out a scream as she saw dozens of the creatures wondering around the kitchen.   
  
"What are those things?" Lily asked James as she backed away from them nervously.   
  
"Those are House-Elves." James said with a smile.  
James told Lily about House-Elves as he walked around the kitchen, gathering all kinds of food to take back up stairs.   
WHAM!   
  
Lily laughed hysterically, as James slipped on a piece of food that had just fallen to the floor.   
  
"That's not funny" James mumbled as he rubbed the back of his head.   
  
"Oh, yes it is!" Lily exclaimed through her laughter.   
  
"Oh, well if you think that's funny. wait until you see this!" James said as he threw a chocolate cupcake at her.   
  
"You did not just do that!" Lily yelled as she grabbed a pumpkin pie and hurled it at James.   
  
It turned into a huge food fight. It was 3:30, as they climbed up the stairs, both were covered with every type of food imaginable, and both were laughing at how incredibly stupid they looked.   
"Um, James..?"   
"Yes"   
"I was just wondering why you never speak to Jody?" Lily asked carefully, not wanting James to know that she knew about everything.   
"Well, because my father asked me not to." James responded, looking uncomfortable.   
"Oh" Lily sad with a sad look on her face.   
  
They walked the rest of the way in silence. then Lily took a shower, and at 4:00, she finally went to sleep.  
The next morning, as Lily and Jodie were walking down stairs, they ran into James, Sirius, and Remus.   
  
"Hi Jodie" James said with a smile.   
  
All four of them turned, and starred at James in amazement.   
  
"I thought your father told you not to talk to me." Jodie said shortly.   
  
"He said he thought it would be best if I didn't, he didn't tell me not to. Besides, what he doesn't know won't hurt him." James explained.   
  
From that moment on the five of them were friends, Doing everything together.   
One morning, the five friends were sitting at the table eating breakfast when Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy by.  
Snape mumbled something to Malfoy as they both looked at James, and burst into laughter.   
"I can't stand them!" Sirius growled.   
  
"I can't either!" James commented as he snatched a copy of the daily prophet from the table.   
  
"I still can't believe Peter ruined our book" Sirius mumbled as he shot a nasty look at Peter who was sitting further down the table.   
  
Peter was very annoying, and happened to enjoy tagging along with James and Sirius everywhere they went.   
  
"What book?" Lily asked curiously.   
  
"It was a book of pranks. We looked up a whole bunch of pranks, and wrote them down in a book so we could try them out on Snape, and Malfoy." Remus responded.   
  
"But Peter managed to catch it on fire, and completely ruin it!" Sirius finish.   
  
At that point, an evil grin spread across Lily's face.   
  
"What are you thinking, Lily?" James asked as he spotted the look Lily had on her face.  
  
"Well, one night I was really bored and I was reading a spell book..."Lily started but was interrupted by James' laughter.   
  
"And what, may I ask, is so funny?" Lily questioned as she looked at James.   
  
"you're the only person I know who would read a spell book." James said as he quieted his laughter.   
  
choosing to ignore James, Lily continued.   
  
"Anyway, I came across this easy spell that I have wanted to try out on someone." Lily said, pointing her wand at Snape, and muttering the spell under her breath.  
in the same instant, Snape, who had been carrying on a conversation with Malfoy, leaned over and kissed Malfoy.   
  
"Oh my gosh!" Malfoy screamed."That's disgusting!"   
  
James, Sirius, Remus, Jodie, and Lily burst into laughter.  
"How did you do that?" Sirius asked still laughing uncontrollably.   
  
"Oh, just wait. It gets better." Lily said with a smile.   
A Slytherin girl turned to Snape to say something, and he leaned over and kissed her, too. She then proceeded to slap snape, and stomp out of the great hall.  
James had fallen out of his chair, and was now laughing on the floor. Sirius, was banging his fist on the table, tears streaming down his face. The girls had both collapsed in a fit of giggles, and the entire great hall was starring at Snape.  
The new transfiguration teacher, Professor McGonagall, stood up and walked over to snape.   
  
"Mr. Snape, do you have a problem" McGonagall asked curtly.   
  
Snape stood up, leaned over the table, and kissed her too!   
  
"WHY I HAVE NEVER!" McGonagall said in out rage.   
  
She then took Snape by the ear and pulled him out of the great hall, while he was muttering something about 'not being able to help it'.  
The five stopped laughing long enough to hear McGonagall yell at Snape in the entrance hall.   
  
"50 POINTS FROM SLYTHERIN, AND DETENTION!" She was yelling.   
  
They heard the sound of Snape kissing her yet again, and then....   
  
"MAKE THAT 150 POINTS, AND THREE DETENTIONS!" She bellowed as Lily muttered the counter curse, and Snape came back in looking very pale, indeed.  
"Aww, why did you have to take it off Lily?" Sirius asked wiping the tears from his eyes.   
  
"If I didn't, McGonagall would have realized it was a curse." Lily explained.   
  
"It was pretty funny though" James said as all five of them started laughing again at the memory of the look on Mcgonagall's face. 


	6. Chapter 6

Things were going great. Lily had four great friends, she loved school, and she was having the time of her life. Things were even looking up for her and James. He had been spending less time with Valerie(she had been sorted into Ravenclaw), and the fact that James was now on speaking terms with Jodie, proved that he didn't always do what his father told him to do.   
  
Before she knew it, it was the end of October, and Dumbledore had decided that they were going to have a Halloween ball this year.  
The notice posted on the bulletin bored said that they could bring dates.   
  
Lily wanted desperately to ask James, but she knew that he would be going with Valerie.   
  
Just then Sirius walked nervously up to Lily and said.   
"Um, I was uh, wondering........doyawannagoballwifme?"   
  
"What?" Lily questioned   
  
"Do you want to got to the ball with me?" Sirius asked blushing.   
Lily thought about it for a moment.   
"Okay" she said, blushing as well.   
  
"Okay!" Sirius said with a smile.   
  
It was just two days until the ball, and Lily had no clue what to wear. It was a costume ball, but she didn't know what she wanted to be.  
Lily went upstairs to her dorm to think about what she wanted to be.   
  
"GUESS WHAT??" Jodie asked, as she came bounding in the door.   
  
"What?" Lily asked looking at her friend curiously.  
"Remus asked me to the ball!" Jodie said dreamily.   
  
"That's great!" Lily said with a huge smile.   
  
She knew her best friend had a crush on Remus, and she was really happy for her.   
  
"Sirius asked me to the dance." Lily added as an after thought.   
  
"Oh, really." Jodie said with an odd sort of smile on her face.   
"Remus asked me to the ball!" Jodie said dreamily.   
  
"That's great!" Lily said with a huge smile.   
  
She knew her best friend had a crush on Remus, and she was really happy for her.   
  
"Sirius asked me to the dance." Lily added as an after thought.   
  
"Oh, really." Jodie said with an odd sort of smile on her face.   
"And, what exactly, does that look on your face mean?" Lily asked.   
  
"Well, it's just that I know how much you like James." Jodie replied."I didn't think you would want to go with Sirius."   
  
"well, Sirius is kinda cute" Lily said with a smile. "And I really should get over James, because it looks as if he will always be with Valerie."   
  
  
with one and a half days left, Lily Finally found a picture in one of her books, of a witch in the medieval time period wearing the most beautiful dress. She quickly mailed the book to her mother with a note to explain.   
  
Her mother was an expert seamstress, and if anyone could make that dress for Lily in a day and a half, it would be her mother.  
The next night, Lily was nervously pacing in her room.   
  
She had done her hair and make-up beautifully, but it was just an 30 minutes until the ball, and Lily still had no dress.  
"What am I going to do?" Lily asked no one in particular.   
  
"It will be alright." Elizabeth, one of her room mates reassured her.   
  
Lily kept glancing nervously at her watch.   
  
10 MINUTES!   
  
Lily groaned.  
With five minutes left, there was a tap on Lily's window.   
  
She rushed over and threw the window open.   
  
She quickly untied the package, and admired the dress inside, before putting it on.   
  
with just two minutes left, Lily stepped in front of the mirror to see the finished product.  
Lily was amazed. She had always thought she had nice features, but she never thought of herself as pretty.   
  
However in this dress, she looked very nice.   
  
Her long red hair was pulled was carefully pulled up, and curls fell gracefully on top of her head.   
  
Her dress was long, and made of a deep blue velvet. the sleeves came all the way down to her wrists, and the waist line came up high. there was also a sheer, light blue fabric that fell loosely over the bottom half of the dress.   
The five girls walked down the stairs, Lily in the back of the line.   
As she emerged from the stair case, Sirius' jaw dropped.   
  
"Is something wrong?" Lily asked nervously.   
  
"No! You look...beautiful!" Sirius finally managed to say.   
  
"You really do" James added, not able to take his eyes off Lily.  
"Are you meeting Valerie in the entrance hall?" Sirius said, bringing James back to reality.   
  
"Um, uh, yeah" James mumbled, as he walked away.   
  
Sirius was clearly pleased to get James' mind off his date, and he glared at him as he walked away.  
"Shall we?" Sirius asked, offering his arm to Lily.   
  
"Yes" Said Lily with a smile, as she took Sirius' arm, and with the rest of the Gyffindors, they walked out the door.   
  
They made the long walk down to the entrance hall, and James, with a last look at Lily, went over and stood by Valerie.   
The doors to the great hall were opened, and everyone gasped as they saw what was inside.   
  
"It looks great!." Lily murmured.   
  
The great hall had dozens of small tables set up, and enchanted streakers hung from the ceiling, flashing with little silver lights. Several live bats flew around the room, and there was a stage set up for a band that was rumored to be coming. There were also gigantic pumpkins in each corner of the room, with scary faces carved in them.   
Everyone proceeded in the great hall, and found a table to sit at.   
  
Lily, Sirius, Jodie, and Remus sat at one table, while James went off to sit with Valerie and her friends.   
  
The feast was delicious. Lily had herb grilled chicken, with a backed potato, and a side of steamed vegetables. After the feast, Dumbledore welcomed the band, and Lily looked around to observe all the different costumes around her.   
Sirius was dressed as a pirate, Remus as a- well Lily couldn't exactly tell what he was dressed as.   
  
Then there was James......who for some reason was dressed as a giant m&m!   
  
"Uh, Sirius, why is James dressed as a giant m&m?" Lily asked, trying to contain her laughter.   
"There was a bet, he lost." Sirius said with a smile.  
"Would you care to dance?" Sirius asked as the music started to play.   
  
"Sure" Lily said   
  
She was quite amazed at how good a dancer he was.   
  
"Where did you learn to dance? I don't know many 11 year old guys that can dance like this." Lily commented.   
  
"Oh, it comes from having a old babysitter who made James and me dance with her every afternoon." Sirius said with a laugh.   
  
The evening was going great. Lily had danced with Sirius, Remus, some other first years, a couple of second and third years, and to Lily's amazement- she even danced with a fourth year.   
  
"Do you want to dance?"   
  
Lily turned to see a bright red m&m standing behind her.   
  
"I'm not sure I want to dance with an m&m" Lily said skeptically.   
  
"I promise I won't step on your toes." James said as he flashed her a smile.   
  
"Okay" Lily replied as they took the dance floor.   
  
Lily was having a lot of fun, it seemed to be the perfect night until.....  
"Because!"   
  
Lily ducked behind a pumpkin as she heard James and Sirius arguing.   
  
"Look I just don't want you to hurt Lily, okay" James said.   
  
"What do you care? You have Valerie, remember? Whatever chance you had with Lily you blew! Now she agreed to go with me to the ball, and you can't even leave us alone for two seconds!" Sirius snapped, his voice raising.   
  
"You've never been serious about anything in you life, and your just going to hurt Lily!" James bellowed, causing the whole Great Hall to turn and look at him.  
"Would you both just stop!" Lily exclaimed as she stepped out from behind the pumpkin.   
  
"It none of your business what I do with my life." Lily said through gritted teeth.   
"What right do you have to argue over who is going to get me? I'm not a piece of property!" At this, Lily stormed out of the great hall.  
"Lily!" both boys exclaimed as they chased after her.   
  
However, Before they got to the door, James was stopped by Valerie.   
  
"Come on James" Valerie said as she pulled him onto the dance floor.   
  
Sirius just shook his head and hurried out the door to find Lily.  
He caught up with her when she was half way to the Gryffindor common room.   
  
"Lily wait!" Sirius called after her.   
  
As he reached her, he took her arm, and she turned around to face him. He was shocked to see a small tear falling down her face.   
  
"What's wrong?" Sirius said gently."Please tell me."   
  
"Do you know how badly you embarrassed me tonight?" Lily questioned in outrage.   
  
"I-I'm sorry" Sirius stammered.  
"Well, sometimes 'sorry' just isn't good enough!" Lily snapped, as she stormed down the hall.   
  
"I really am sorry Lily, I didn't mean to ruin your night" Sirius called after her.   
  
Lily stopped and turned around as Sirius walked up to her yet again.   
  
"I didn't mean to over react, it's just that I was having such a good time, and then...." Lily trailed off as she looked down at the floor.  
"It's okay Sirius, I know you didn't mean to. I think I'll go to the library to get a book before I go to bed. Good night." Lily said as she turned, and walked toward the library.  
Lily walked down the rows of books, looking for a good one to read.   
  
Sirius really is cute, and he is really nice. Beside, James is to wrapped up in Valerie.   
  
Lily thought to herself   
  
Lily Evans is officially over James Potter!   
  
She thought happily.   
  
In the same moment, someone grabbed her by the collar, and forced her up against the wall.  
It was Valerie.   
  
"Listen Evans, cause I'm only gonna say this once!" Valerie growled.   
  
"Stay away from James! I never want to see you near him again! Understood?" Valerie said tightening her grip on Lily's collar.  
Lily's eyes narrowed, and with one swift motion, she took Valerie's feet out from under her.   
  
"Looks like six years of karate paid off." Lily growled, as she looked down at Valerie, who was sprawled out on the floor.   
  
"Now let me tell you something. Nobody, especially a spoiled little brat like you, is going to tell me what to do." Lily said, her eyes flashing.   
  
"I can be friends with whom ever I choose! You really are the most appalling human being I've ever met!" Lily exclaimed.   
  
"Oh! I'm sorry did I use a word that was to big for your small mind to understand? Here look it up!" Lily said as she dropped a dictionary by Valerie's head, turned on her heel, and marched out the door.  
Lily stormed into the common room, and plopped down in a chair.   
  
"What's wrong?" Jodie asked.   
  
Lily told Jodie the whole story. Jodie listened very carefully, and by the time Lily was done Jodie looked very concerned, indeed.   
  
"What's wrong?" Lily asked Jodie.   
  
  
Mean while back in the library......  
Valerie picked herself off, and dusted off her pink silk dress. She ed the dictionary from the floor and threw it back on the self.   
  
"Oh, you'll be sorry Lily Evans" She snarled.   
  
"Just wait! I will have my revenge!" She went on, talking to no one in particular.   
  
"One day you will wake up, and wish that you had never messed with the Valerie Vanderbuilt!"   
  
Valerie then stomped out of the library to plot her revenge against Lily.   
"Lily, I don't think it's wise to mess with Valerie." Jodie said carefully.   
"I can protect myself against that little..." Lily started but was interrupted by Jodie.   
  
"I'm not talking about just Valerie" Jodie mumbled.   
  
Lily sighed "Jodie, what aren't you telling me now?" Lily asked looking at her friend.  
"um....I think it would be best if we went somewhere else to discuss this." Jodie said, pulling Lily up the stairs to their dormitory.   
  
"Hmm, no. Something about this doesn't feel right either."   
  
"Let's go find an empty classroom" Jodie commented, as she pulled Lily by the arm, yet again.   
"No, no, no! This is all wrong too" Jodie said.   
  
"I can't tell you here!"   
  
"why not?" Lily questioned.   
  
"Because I feel like there is someone listening." Jodie replied.   
  
The pair went to twelve different classrooms before Jodie finally decided she could tell Lily what was going on.  
"Okay Jodie, can you tell me now?" Lily asked as she turned to face her friend.   
  
"Um, yeah, I guess." Jodie said.   
  
"You see, my parents wor.....What was that?" Jodie asked as she looked around the room.   
  
"I heard a noise." She said.   
  
"It was just your imagination, now would you PLEASE tell me why I shouldn't be messing with Valerie?" Lily asked impatiently.  
"my parents worked for a secret department in the ministry of magic." Jodie began.   
  
"I never knew anything about their work until they died. After that, they left me a book telling me about their work." she continued   
  
"Their work was specifically meant to keep two dark wizards from rising to power. These dark wizards are very strong, and if the ministry is not careful, they will take over the entire world, magical and muggle." Jodie said in a frightened voice  
"Whoa! That sounds terrible!" Lily said with a concerned look on her face.   
"It is." Jodie replied.   
  
"But what does that have to do with Valerie?" Lily asked.   
  
"Well, my parents learned something about one of these wizards" Jodie said slowly.   
  
"What?"   
  
"One of them is Valerie's uncle" Jodie replied.  
"Okay, now you've really lost me. If he's on the dark side, wouldn't Valerie's dad do something about that. He works for the ministry." Lily said.   
  
"Well, from what I read, his family doesn't know." Jodie responded.   
  
"Then how can he hurt me?" Lily asked becoming more and more confused by the minute.   
  
"well, before he turned dark, he and Valerie were very close. I even remember him coming over when we were little. Anyway, one day he just disappeared. No one knew were he went, but since that day, anyone who upset Valerie had a strange way of um, well, disappearing" Jodie concluded.  
"But how do you know it was him?" Lily asked looking very pale.   
  
"I just do. Look please don't ask me anything else cause I can't tell you." Jodie said with a pleading look in her eye.   
  
"The things my parents left me are very top secret and..."   
  
"I understand Jodie, you don't have to say anymore." Lily said   
  
"Thank you" Jodie replied as they got up to leave the empty classroom. 


	7. Chapter 7

Over the next couple of days, Lily was very jumpy. She was terrified that Valerie's uncle would show up and....well, she didn't want to think about what would happen then.   
  
Although she was afraid, she didn't let Valerie know it. She maintained her friendship with James, and refused to back down to Valerie.   
  
Other than her run in with Valerie, things continued to go smoothly for Lily. She was really starting to like Sirius, and she could tell that he was really starting to like her. Sirius was always so silly, but around her he could be serious. Yes, life was great.  
And much to Lily relief, Valerie never held true to her threats against Lily. Before she knew it, it was Christmas time and the school was packing up to go home.   
Lily however, had decided to stay and keep Jodie company. James, Sirius Remus, and Peter were staying, and with the exception of a few older students, they had the run of the tower.  
Christmas at Hogwarts was great. Every morning, they would get up around 11:00 and have a snow ball fight outside. Then they would come in, and drink hot chocolate, doing absolutely nothing until dinner.   
  
Finally Christmas arrived.   
  
"Wake up!" Sirius shouted excitedly as he hit Lily with a pillow.   
  
"What are you doing here?" Lily asked as the boys (minus peter) filed into her dorm.   
  
"You know you're not supposed to be up here" Lily said sleepily.   
  
"Do you want to open presents or not?" James asked as he dug into the pile he had brought up the stairs with him.   
  
"Present!" the girls exclaimed excitedly, now wide awake.  
Lily tore into the package located on the top of her own pile of gifts. Soon she had opened them all.   
  
Remus had given he a package of every flavor beans. *thanks Remus!*   
  
James had given her a book of curses. *Cool! I can't wait to try it out*   
  
Jodie gave her a book on Shakespeare. *Thanks Jodie! He's my favorite play write*   
  
Sirius gave her a pair of emerald green ear rings. *Sirius these are beautiful! Hey look, they match my eyes.*   
  
And finally her parents sent her an assortment of things from new clothes, to books, to snack food.   
  
After opening their presents, they all filed down the stairs to the Great Hall for the Christmas feast.   
  
The Great Hall looked fabulous. There was a table set with a giant turkey with all the trimmings, and twelve huge Christmas trees stood at various places around the hall.  
That night, Lily couldn't sleep so she grabbed the book Jody had given her Shakespeare's life, and she went to sit by the fire.   
  
And so, Shakespeare decided to move back to his home town, Stratford-apon-Avon.   
Just then Lily heard a noise. She paused for a moment, and strained her ears. She heard nothing, so she continued reading.   
  
After that, Shakespeare wrote only one more play, Henry VIII.   
  
Lily heard the noise yet again, and this time she stood to look around the room. She saw nothing.   
  
This is getting strange   
  
She thought to herself, no longer feeling safe.  
Lily was now absolutely terrified, as she kept hearing noises, but could see nothing at all.   
  
In a moment of panic, Lily turned to run up the stairs, but half way up she ran into the scariest thing she had ever seen in her life.   
  
"AHHHH" Lily screamed in terror, and fled down the stairs through the portrait hole, running as fast as she could to get away from the terrifying figure that was lurking behind her.   
  
"HELP ME!" she cried out as she ran, doing everything she could to escape the fate that undoubtedly awaited her if she were caught.   
  
The creature was indeed was to fast for her, and drove her to the ground.   
  
"Please help me!" She cried completely helpless, tears streaming down her face."Please!"   
  
Lily struggled with all her might to get free, still screaming at the top of her lungs. After struggling what seemed like years, Lily could struggle no more, and she fainted on the floor.   
  
"Now what did you say it looked like Sirius?"   
  
"I don't know professor, as I came running around the corner it just disappeared"   
  
The memories suddenly came flooding back to Lily, and she sat straight up in the bed.   
  
She looked around, and spotted Sirius, and Dumbledore standing in the corner talking.  
"Professor! it was awful it......." Lily said very quickly.   
  
"Just, slow down Lily." Dumbledore said soothingly.   
  
"It was terrible. It was huge with a tangled mass of hair, and those eyes! What terrible eyes!" Lily exclaimed as she shuddered at the thought of those horrendous red eyes.   
"Dridaviel!" Dumbledore exclaimed as he fled the hospital wing.  
"Wh-what happened? Why didn't that thing hurt me?" Lily asked Sirius.   
  
"Well, your screams woke about half of the common room, while James and I took off after you. We followed your screams, and I came around the corner first. The instant that thing saw me, it disappeared." Sirius said, looking just as confused as Lily.   
  
"Why would it do that?" Lily questioned.   
  
"I guess it figured it should get out while it could" Sirius replied.   
  
"But it had to have know that you couldn't hurt it" Lily commented.   
  
"Yes, but it would have been in big trouble if more powerful wizards had showed up" Sirius reasoned as the door of the hospital wing opened, and Jodie, James, and Remus ran in.  
"Oh, Lily are you okay?" Jodie asked as she came over to sit by her friend.   
  
"Yeah, I'll be fine." Lily said quietly.   
  
"We were really worried about you." James said with a concerned look in his eyes.   
  
"Yeah, we really were." Remus added.   
  
In the same moment, Dumbledore walked back in the door.   
  
"I need to tell you something Lily" Dumbledore said, looking very serious.   
  
The other four stood to leave, but Dumbledore stopped them before they walked out the door.   
  
"You might as well stay, because I know Lily will tell you everything the first chance she gets" He said with a small smile that quickly faded.   
  
"The man who attacked was Lord Dridaviel. I know that it was him, but what I can't image is why and how he attacked you." Dumbledore said, looking enraged at the fact that someone so malevolent had managed to get inside his school.   
  
"Wait a second!" Lily exclaimed in shock "That thing is a man?"  
"Yes, he is" Dumbledore said calmly.   
  
"Lily, do you know why he would what attack you? If you do, you must tell me. Your safety, and the safety of the other students depend on it." he said urgently.   
  
At this point, Lily looked over, and saw Jodie turn very pale.   
"N-no I don't know why." Lily said slowly."Jodie, are you okay?"   
  
"Um, I'm not feeling so well.....I think I'll go back up stairs. Hope you feel better." Jodie said with a small smile as she came over to give Lily a hug.   
  
"Lord Dridaviel is Valerie's uncle, isn't he?" Lily whispered in Jodie's ear.   
  
Jodie gave her head a small nod, confirming Lily guess.   
  
"I know what your parents told you in that book was a secret, but you can trust Dumbledore. You have to tell him. You heard what he said, the safety of the students depend on it." Lily continued in a whisper.   
  
There was a pause, and then   
  
"okay"   
  
Jodie whispered back.   
"Um, Professor? Can I talk to you for a second?" Jodie asked softly.   
  
"Yes, would you care to step outside?" Dumbledore asked.   
  
Jodie nodded and they stepped out the door, closing it behind them. 


	8. Chapter 8

About a half hour later the two came back in.   
  
"Jodie has given me some very important information, and because of what she told me you will all be safe." Dumbledore said with a smile.   
  
"Thank you Jodie. Now, you should all go up stairs, and try to get some sleep. Lily, I would like you to stay overnight. You can leave in the morning. Now off you go!" Dumbledore said, as he pushed everyone out the door.   
  
"Bye Lily!" they all said as they left.  
The next morning Lily got up, dressed, and went to breakfast to join her friends.   
  
"How are feeling?" Sirius asked.   
  
"Much better!" She said with a smile.   
  
"All of this 'Lord Dridaviel' stuff has put me in a bad mood! Is anyone in the mood for a prank?" Lily asked, cheering up at the thought.   
"I am!" they all yelled at the same time.   
  
"What did you have in mind?" Jodie asked eagerly, as an evil grin spread across Lily's face.  
"Well, sense we already got snape, I say we go for Malfoy this time." Remus suggested   
  
"I agree. Now this is what I'm thinking." Lily said.   
  
They then leaned in and discussed their plan for pulling a prank on Lucius Malfoy.   
The next day the school arrived back from Christmas break. Lily had decided to wait until the whole school was there to pull her prank.   
  
The boys had taken care of everything, and now all they had to do was wait for Malfoy to come to breakfast.   
  
"Here he comes!" Jodie said as she nearly burst out laughing.   
  
"Okay time for the second step. Vocaltheria!" Lily muttered under her breath, as she pointed her wand at Malfoy.  
At that moment, someone started singing, and the voice came from the general direction of Malfoy's butt....   
  
"Are the stars out tonight?   
I don't know if it's cloudy or bright   
cause I only have eyes for you!"   
  
Snape looked around, very confused.   
  
"what?" he said as Lily started laughing.   
  
"It worked!" Jodie exclaimed.   
  
"And he hasn't got a clue!" Remus laughed.   
  
"Singing boxer shorts! That was good Lily!" James exclaimed.   
  
"Oh, we're not done with him yet!" Lily said.   
  
"you did give it the truth potion didn't you?" Lily asked.   
  
"yeah, but I don't think it will work on boxer shorts Lily." James said.   
"It wasn't a real truth potion. It wouldn't work on people. It just a weak potion met for clothes." Lily commented, as she whispered yet another spell.   
  
"Hello, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Malfoy's boxer shorts! Hey, Wendy Parker, Lucius has a big crush on you!   
He talks about you all the time. He doesn't think anyone's around, but I am!" the boxer shorts said.   
  
James, Sirius, Remus, Lily, and Jodie were now laughing very hard.  
Malfoy turned bright red bright red, grabbed his butt to try and get the shorts to shut up, and ran out of the great hall.   
  
Lily stopped laughing long enough to comment "That was good!"   
  
"Yeah, tell me about it" James said through his laughter.   
  
Sirius tried to say something, but gave up because he couldn't stop laughing.   
  
One night a couple of weeks later, Lily sat by the fire place late at night when Remus hurried down the stairs, James and Sirius right behind him.   
  
Knowing that the boys were up to something, Lily quickly ducked behind her chair.   
  
"You better hurry Remus. You might not make it!" Sirius said urgently.   
  
Just then, Madam Pomfrey burst into the common room.   
  
Why is she here?   
  
Lily thought to herself.   
  
"Hurry, dear. We haven't much time." Pomfrey said quickly as she pushed Remus out the door.  
What is going on?   
  
Lily thought.   
  
After James and Sirius went back up stairs, Lily sat up in her chair.   
  
"There are way to many strange things going on at hogwarts." Lily commented to herself.   
  
"Oh, well. Off to solve the newest mystery of why Remus left with the school nurse." she said with a sigh, as she ran out the door to follow him.   
  
She got about half way down the hallway when the portrait hole opened again and Sirius stepped out.   
  
Sirius' eyes widened   
  
"Lily!" he exclaimed loudly.   
  
"Shut up! Your going to get us into trouble!" Lily hissed as she came over to Sirius.   
  
"Sorry. Where were you going?" Sirius questioned.   
  
"Um, the library." Lily quickly lied.   
  
"At 1:00 in the morning?" Sirius asked not believing her.   
  
"Um, yeah. I was hoping to look in the restricted section." Lily said.   
  
"Why?" Sirius asked.   
  
"It's none of your business." Lily snapped continuing down the hall. If she could just ditch Sirius, she could still catch up with Remus.   
  
"It won't work." Sirius called after her.   
  
"what won't?" she asked, becoming very frustrated.   
  
"Looking in the restricted section. The books scream when you open them. Believe me. I know. I've tried." He said with a smile.  
"Oh, fine" Lily said, finally giving up. She would just have to solve the mystery some other way.   
  
She turned around and headed back to her to dorm.   
  
"were are you going now?" Sirius asked.   
  
"To bed" Lily replied shortly. She was still a little mad at Sirius for ruining everything.   
  
"O-okay" Sirius said, following her back through the portrait hole.   
  
"By the way, what were you doing?" Lily asked.   
  
"Um, nothing." Sirius responded.   
  
"Yeah, right" Lily said, as she walked up the stairs, and went to bed.  
Remus didn't come back for a couple of days. After Lily thought about it, she remembered him disappearing a couple of times before. Lily ran up stairs, and pulled out her calender. she wrote down all the times she could remember him going. They happened about once every month, but other than that, Lily couldn't make any connections between the dates that Remus disappeared on.   
  
It was, indeed the strangest situation Lily had ever been in.   
  
After that Remus didn't go any where, until one night, about a month later.........  
He ran out the door, about 9:00 one night.   
  
Lily seemed to be the only one to notice, but sense James and Sirius were sitting there, Lily couldn't follow him.   
  
Suddenly Lily realized something. She looked out the window into the night sky.   
  
"Oh! I can't believe I didn't see it before!" and with that Lily ran up to her dorm and started looking through one of her many books.  
Finding what she was looking for, she hurried back down the stairs, and tossed the book in James' lap.   
  
"Remus is a werewolf!" Lily exclaimed quietly.   
  
Sirius and James turned very pale.   
  
"Wh-what would give that idea" James said slowly.   
  
"Oh, come on Potter! Read this. It tells about the symptoms of werewolves. Remus has them all!" Lily whispered.   
  
"Th-that's not true!" Sirius replied.   
  
"How stupid do you think I am? Really, there's no point in covering for him now. I know he's a werewolf!" Lily continued.  
"don't tell Jodie!" Sirius blurted out.   
  
"Why?" Lily asked in surprise.   
  
"Because Remus really likes Jodie, and he thinks she won't like him if she founds out" James answered.   
  
"Give Jodie more credit than that. Remus should tell her" Lily said.   
  
"Well, that's not our decision, and it's not yours either. Please don't tell her." Sirius responded.   
"Y-You don't hate Remus now, do you?" James asked slowly.   
  
"Of course not! Why would I?" Lily questioned.   
  
"Well, a lot of people are afraid of werewolves." James said.   
  
"I'm not" Lily replied as Jodie came walking up.   
  
"Hey guys! What are you talking about?" Jodie asked.   
  
"NOTHING!" all three of them yelled, causing the entire common room to turn and look at them.  
"you guys are acting weird!" Jodie commented as she sat down beside Lily.   
  
"So, were is Remus?" she asked, noticing that he was not at the table with everyone else.   
  
"Um, uh, well....."   
"Hmmmmm, I, um..."   
"Uh, let's see, um...."   
  
Lily, James and Sirius mumbled.   
  
"Uh, he's not feeling so good" James managed to say.   
  
"He sure does get sick a lot. Is he gonna be okay?" Jodie asked with a concerned look on her face.  
"Um, yeah! He'll be just fine. Hey James why don't we go check on him now?" Sirius said, making up an excuse to leave the room.   
  
"Yeah! We should do that. See you later!" James replied as the boys ran up the stairs.   
  
Lily could have killed them. Now she had to deal with Jodie's question all by herself.   
  
"What does he have?" Jodie asked.   
  
"I, uh, don't exactly know. Guess what?" Lily asked, trying desperately to change the subject.   
  
"What?" Jodie responded.   
  
"I'm, uh, I'm going out with Sirius" Lily lied.   
  
  
Sirius is going to kill me!   
  
Lily thought, regretting the lie she just told.   
  
"That's great!" Jodie said with a smile.   
  
"When did he ask you out?"   
  
"Oh, about an hour ago" Lily said, forcing a smile on her face.   
  
What am I going to tell Sirius? Maybe he could play along with it. Then we could pretend to break up. That could work!  
Jodie went on and on about how great it was that Lily and Sirius were going out.   
  
"Um, Jodie, could you excuse me for a moment? I don't feel so well either." Lily lied yet again.   
  
"I hope your not catching what Remus has." Jodie said.   
  
"Oh, I'm sure I'll be fine" Lily said weakly, then ran up to her dorm to think of a plan.   
  
I'll just explain everything to Sirius, and I'm sure he'll understand.   
  
She thought doubtfully.  
Later that night, Lily went back to the common room to find to find Sirius before Jodie said anything to him.   
  
He was sitting in a chair by the fire, apparently struggling through his potions homework.   
  
"Sirius can I talk to you?" Lily asked.   
  
"Sure" he mumbled, a look of great concentration on his face as he flipped through the pages of the book propped open on his lap.   
  
Lily sat down, and looked around the common room to make sure no one was listening.  
"I have something to tell you, and I know your going to be mad, but I had to do it and......" Lily started, but was interrupted by Sirius.   
  
"Just tell me." he said, looking up from his homework.   
  
"Okay. Jodie kept on asking questions about Remus, and she wouldn't stop. So to change the subject I kind of told her that we were going out." Lily said, her face turning bright red.   
  
"Now we have to pretend we are or she'll know I lied to her, and I really don't want her to be mad at me...." She started, but Sirius cut in yet again.   
  
"Why pretend?" he asked with a small grin.  
"Y-you mean..a-are you.." Lily stuttered.   
  
"Yes, I'm asking you out" Sirius said, blushing slightly.   
  
"So- what do say?" he asked.   
  
"Okay" Lily said with a smile.   
  
"Good. Now we don't have to pretend." Sirius replied with a laugh.   
  
"Hey, what's up?" James asked as he came to sit by Lily and Sirius.   
  
"Not much" Lily replied.   
  
"Lily, do think I could talk to Sirius for a minute.....you know, alone?" James asked.   
  
"Sure. See you two later!" Lily said as she went off to finish her transfiguration homework.   
"What's up James?" Sirius asked.   
  
"Well, I've noticed that you and Lily have been getting, uh, closer lately." James said carefully.   
  
"Yeah, what's your point?" Sirius asked slowly.   
  
"I was just wondering........do you like Lily?" James Questioned hurriedly.   
  
"Yes, I guess I do. Considering she's my girlfriend, don't you think I should?" Sirius asked smugly, happy to see the shocked look on James' face.  
"I-I'm sorry, what did you say? She's y-y-your"   
  
"She's my girlfriend. What, have you suddenly developed a stuttering problem?"   
  
Sirius asked, quite happy at how bothered James seemed to be.   
  
"Okay, I'm going to go then" James said absolutely speechless, as he got up and walked to his dorm.   
  
"What was that about?" Lily asked as she came back down the stairs with her transfiguration homework.   
  
"Oh, nothing" Sirius said with a smile, remembering the look on James' face.   
All though James would never admit it, Sirius knew that he liked Lily. He also knew that as James' best friend, he shouldn't enjoy torturing him, but he thought it was James' fault. What right did he have to like Lily when Valerie was his girlfriend?   
  
"So are you almost done with your transfiguration homework?" Lily asked as she put the finishing touches on her's.   
  
"Are you kidding?" Sirius asked with disbelief.   
  
"Uh, no" Lily said.   
  
"It's not due till Monday, and you think I already have it done? Ha! You don't know me very well." Sirius commented as he shook his head. 


	9. Chapter 9

The three boys and Lily went into Remus' house and walked to the living room.   
"Um, why are we here, and why are you starting a fire?" Lily asked as Remus bent over and threw a match in the fire place.   
"We're traveling to Diagon Ally by floo powder" Sirius said.   
"by what?"   
"Okay, all you have to do is take some of this powder, throw it into the fire, and say 'Diagon Ally'" Remus explained   
"There is no way I'm going first!" Lily protested   
"Fine I'll go" Sirius said.   
As he threw the powder in the fire, green flames shot up.   
"Diagon Ally" Sirius said and then vanished as he stepped into the fire.  
Lily went next. As she was whirled into the into the fire place, she saw all sorts of strange rooms flash before her eyes. Then suddenly she fell onto the hard floor of a strange looking book shop. Remus helped her up as James and Sirius appeared behind her. They exited the shop, and walked down the cobblestone streets as James began to explain everything about the magical world to Lily.  
There was so much to learn. Lily couldn't believe everything she was hearing. They were currently sitting outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, each of them with a large chocolate ice cream cone. "Oh! I almost forgot to tell you about quidditch!" James said excitedly   
"You? Forget about quidditch? Ha!" Sirius said as he rolled his eyes.   
"What's quidditch?" Lily questioned   
"Only the best game in the entire world!" James said rather loudly.   
"What you do is......"   
"Oh, Jaaaaaaaaaames!"   
James was interrupted by a snotty looking girl with long brown hair.   
"Um, hi Valerie" James said unenthusiastically   
"James, were on earth have you been? It's 11:30 and you promised to have lunch with daddy and me" Valerie cooed   
"I'd almost forgotten. Well, I guess we better go guys. Bye Lily" James said.   
Valerie shot Lily a nasty look before dragging James away.   
"We better go Remus. This is going to be a long day" Sirius sighed   
"wh-who was that girl?" Lily asked Remus   
"That would be Valerie Vanderbuilt, James' girlfriend" Remus replied   
"James has a girlfriend?" Lily gulped   
"Yep. Listen, I'm really sorry about this, but you'll be fine if you stay on Diagon Ally. We'll meet you back in front of the fire place in Flourish and Blotts at 4:00, okay?" Remus said   
"Yeah, sure" replied Lily as Remus turned to catch up with Sirius and James.   
Lily was really starting to like James, and she was quite upset that he had a girlfriend. Pushing these thoughts aside she got up and consulted her list of supplies. She had already gone to Gringotts, and purchased everything but her wand and her robes. Picking up her packages she headed down the road to Madame Malkin's shop. Madame Malkin took her to a back room, stood her and a stool, and put robes on her. She had to leave for a moment to help another costumer, and she left Lily standing on her stool next to a girl with short blonde hair.   
"Hi, I'm Lily Evans" Lily said as she shifted slightly to face the girl.   
"Hello! I'm Jodie Blankenship."   
As their conversation proceeded, Lily and Jodie quickly became friends.   
They went to get their wands and then found a bench to sit on while they continued their talk.   
"So, um, do you know anything about James Potter?" Lily blurted a little more suddenly than she meant to.   
"Well..uh..yeah..um...I-I guess I've heard of him before." Jodie said, not quite meeting Lily's eyes.   
"what aren't you telling me?" Lily asked, looking critically at Jodie.   
"Lily, look, maybe some day I'll tell you, but now is not the right time. Just promise me one thing.."   
"what?"   
"Promise me that you won't get involved with James, okay. I- I just don't want you to get hurt" Jodie finished hurriedly.   
"Well, okay" Lily said crossing her fingers behind her back.  
That night Lily laid in bed, recalling her conversation with Jodie.   
  
Why wouldn't Jodie tell me what was wrong? What could have happened to her to make her think James was dangerous?   
After tossing and turning for about an hour, Lily finally fell into an uneasy sleep.   
  
The weeks seemed to fly by. Lily celebrated her eleventh birthday, and before long it was September 1st 


End file.
